After what seemed like an eternity of watching vans, trucks, taxis, and a Hummer that seemed to be driving in circles roll by; an old Corolla, with faded green paint, finally came into view. The guy in the car spotted the only kid with the orange hair, and stopped right in front of them. He rolled down the window and asked, "Hi are you Phineas Flynn?"

"Yes, yes I am. Are you Manuel?"

"That's my name." He got out of the car and walked towards them. "Manuel Garcia, nice to meet you." He shook Phineas' hand. "And you must be Isabella. Como estas?"

"Nice to meet you" she said. "I'm doing good. How about you?"

"I'm good prima. You guys just hop in while I load you luggage into the trunk."

Phineas opened the back door for Isabella. She giggled at his extended hand offering help, holding it as she climbed into the car. Once she was seated, he shut the door and got in through the other side. Manuel teased him as he rounded the trunk. "So you're a gentleman, now are you?" he said while laughing. Phineas smiled, "Yes, yes I am."

Mind you, Phineas thought that his experience so far in El Paso was leaning on the exotic. Most of the people at the airport spoke Spanish among themselves. He spotted more men with cowboy hats. Some even sported pointy crocodile-skin boots. This is the true Mexican experience, he thought.

To add to the wonder, the first thing he noticed when he got in the car was the music playing on the radio. It was norteño music, a ballad-like genre played with an accordion, a bass, a guitar, drums, and an optional saxophone. This particular song was "Me nortie", sung by Conjunto Primavera. He first thought it was strange, but he got used to it.

The trunk shut, and Manuel got into the driver's seat. He whistled along with the tune for a while, then turned around and looked at Isabella. "So do you understand Spanish?"

"I get bits and pieces, but not really."

He smiled, "That will change here. You'll see." Then he turned his head towards Phineas. "What do you think so far of the place?"

"It's hot, and I can't understand what most of the people are saying" he replied. "But I like it a lot."

Manuel laughed. "That's good to hear. You'll like it even more as you go. Now let's get out of here. Uncle Juan is dying to see you guys." With that, he started driving, eventually getting on the interstate.

Phineas looked around. So many cars, trucks and trailers cruising, and it wasn't even rush hour. The town looked even more beautiful on the ground. He loved the desert landscape and the view from the interstate, overlooking El Paso, as well as Juarez on the other side of the border. Soon they exited the interstate. After a few turns and a cul-de-sac, they were at the house. It looked no different from Isabella's home, just that this home had a gravel lawn and genuine desert plants. Barrel cactuses indicated the corners of the property along the street. The backyard fence was made of stone and mortar, about 4 feet high.

Phineas grabbed his suitcase, towing Isabella's as well. He followed Manuel, and walked in through the front door. They were suddenly greeted by a bunch of family, of all ages and sizes. The eldest person, Isabella's grandma, was the first to greet her grand-daughter, with a hug and kiss on the cheek. The uncles and aunts followed, doing the same.

Phineas noted that the uncles all had the same type of mustache and facial features, the only differences between them being their height and clothes. Nonetheless, Phineas introduced himself to the family, greeting each person with a cordial handshake. He didn't greet the kids though; they were too busy running around playing tag in the maze of people. Whe Isabella and Phineas had finished mingling with everybody, Manuel walked them over to the guest room, with two beds, where they left their luggage and walked back to where the family was.

For a while, both Isabella and Phineas went their separate ways. Phineas started conversing with the uncles, making sure to connect their names to their appearance. Uncle Antonio was the shortest and widest. Uriel was the tallest, and Uncle Juan, their host as well as Manuel's father, was only a tad shorter and burlier. Uncle Robelo, just as muscular as Juan, was the only one from the crew that stuck out; he had a buzz cut and chinstrap beard. Although he looked intimidating at first, he turned out to have a friendly and joking personality. Phineas found out that there were two other uncles in other parts of the country. My God, how much family can one ask for, he thought. Learning everybody's name would take time.

Isabella went over to her aunts and talked to them for a while. Quite the opposite of what Phineas was dealing with, she was wishing for more aunts. On her mother's side, she had only two. Teresa and Rosa were their names. They just talked about Isabella's trip, what she thought of the place so far, and so forth. However, she found out that what she lacked in aunts she made up in cousins; about a dozen, and those were only the girls. Some of those cousins were her age and older. They were absent though, because they were across the border in Mexico. She would visit them one of these days.

Isabella was happy talking with her grandma and aunt about her experiences in Danville. Their conversation shifted to Phineas, and why he had come. She rambled on and on about how good of a person he was and all of the things he has done for her (in a way that didn't give away their enormous projects). Her aunt Teresa then popped a question out of the blue. "You like him, don't you?"

Isabella thought this came out of nowhere. Then she realized that she had been talking in a higher voice and grinning like crazy. She nodded, "Am I that obvious?"

"Si, mi'ja." her aunt replied. "On one hand, you two are still too young to be in a serious relationship. But on the other, he seems like a good guy. Besides, you two are really comfortable and happy around each other. It shows. You don't really feel that until…Oh crap, the food is ready." She rushed over to the stove to tend to the rice that was already set.

Isabella wondered about what her aunt was about to say. Being her, she didn't let it go, just let it drift to the back of her mind for future fancy. Now, the food was ready, and the crowd walked into the backyard to eat. Everybody ate a delicious plate of Spanish rice, carne asada, and salad. Spicy salsa and pico de gallo were on hand for those with bold taste buds.

Phineas tried some of the salsa, but turned red when it was spicier than he thought. Isabella was sitting next to him, and started to worry when his eyes started to get teary, so she ran off to get a drink. When she returned, Phineas thanked her and downed the drink in no time. Manuel grinned at the scene, mocking by doing an overdone "Aww." Phineas smiled at Isabella and thanked her again, the redness in his face receding.

When the event was over and the visiting relatives left, they went ahead and called their families at home. Phineas told his mom that he was already safe at Isabella's uncle's home. Isabella talked to her mom about the day and about her family. When finished, they relaxed and talked to Manuel. He insisted that they call him Manny instead. At any rate, they watched the Uncovery Channel. The episode on the Southwest was airing again, and Manny told them about what else there was to do in El Paso. Evidently the episode missed out on quite a lot, because Manny kept rambling on about what he does with his free time.

"So what do you do on your free time, Phineas?" he asked.

"I always try to seize the day" replied Phineas. "So I usually make stuff in my backyard so that my friends will have fun."

"You make stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Like what?"

"Anything, really. Me and my step-brother Ferb fixed a time machine in the museum once years ago."

Isabella continued, "But, I had to help you guys out because you got stuck in the past. The Fireside Girls and I had to build another time machine. The problem was, Mr. Genius misspelled time machine and we ended up making a tie machine instead."

Phineas gave her a joking dirty look. "Yeah. Good thing she figured out the mistake. Thanks to her, we got back in one piece." Isabella nodded sheepishly, as Phineas smiled at her.

Manuel was astounded. "Wow, that's impressive. Mind if you show me what you usually do tomorrow?"

Phineas smiled. "Of course. It will be fun."

Night fell, and they were tired from the long travel. Isabella climbed into the bed next to her suitcase. Phineas got in the bed on the other side of the room.

"Today was fun wasn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah, but it was very long and tiring. Especially the flight" she replied. "Good thing you were there to keep me company." She turned in Phineas' direction. He was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Don't mention it" he said. "I'd do anything for you." He smiled and turned towards Isabella. She was smiling back at him. Phineas chuckled. "What?"

She sighed. "Nothing. I'm just thinking, that I'm fortunate to know a person like you."

"Well, I'm fortunate to be a person like myself" he joked, allowing Isabella to giggle. "Seriously though, I feel the same way. I'm lucky to have found a girl like you; you're simply priceless. You're caring, understanding, brave, smart, cute, and…" He cut off and started turning red. "Ah what the heck, I already told you you're beautiful. But it's all true." He started grinning like an idiot again.

Isabella giggled when she started seeing the toothy grin. She spaced into Phineas-Land for a moment.

"Izzy, are you okay?" asked Phineas, slightly concerned.

"Yeah, I'm just happy. Thanks for being there for me, Phin."

A smile returned to his face. "Of course. I wouldn't let anything happen to you. First off, your mom told me to take care of you. I would have lots of explaining to do if something happened. And second, I care about you. Very much."

Phineas walked over to Isabella and gave her a hug. When he pulled away, he looked in her eyes. He smiled, she giggled. "Allright, it's getting late Izzy. We should get some sleep if we want to build a project for Manny first thing tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're right" Isabella said, sort of bummed that the hug had ended. She wanted to preserve that moment forever. "Let's get to sleep."

He shuffled back into his bed and turned over to Isabella. "Goodnight, Isabella."

"Goodnight Phineas."

With that, he turned off the lamp. Soon both were fast asleep, dreaming about all that had happened between them during the day.

Okay, here's the second update. I'm quite concerned at this point of the story. Is it just me, or does the narrative seem to be slowing? Is it going good so far? Please feel free to share your opinions by reviewing. I will update another two or three chapters tomorrow most likely. Until then, happy reviewing :)